


The Park Is Open

by GreatDane



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Angst, Claire Dearing is a badass, F/M, Fanfiction, Fluff, Jurassic World, Owen is awesome, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-08 11:23:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4302936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreatDane/pseuds/GreatDane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keegan, a 16-year old girl, visits Isla Nublar along with her younger brother, Iain. Filled with excitement, they head towards what they think is just going to be an extraordinary vacation, but what turns out to be potentially their worst nightmare. Amidst all of their trouble, they are lucky enough to meet some special people along the way. Maybe the murderous vacation won't be all bad, after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I was sitting down, tucked away in the safety of my cabin on the cruise ship. The rocking motion of the large ship was making me queasy, the large crowd doing nothing to help me breathe, and so I had retreated to the cabin I shared with my 7-year old little brother, Iain. A friendly female employee had offered to keep watch of my brother for a few moments so he could continue enjoying the beautiful view of the approaching island, and I had graciously accepted, figuring nothing too shabby could happen to my brother in the confinements of the ship. So for the moment I was sitting on the bed, my arms encircled around my legs, waiting for my brother to join me. Our mother had finally, after months of begging from my side, given me permission to visit Isla Nublar, but only if my little brother could tag along - while being my responsibility. I had begrudgingly accepted, too determined to see the famous island to deny the opportunity. A part of me figured he had to come too, because my mother and her new husband were having a rough patch in their marriage, but I kept my mouth shut. Just like my mother, I only had my brother’s best interest at heart. So now we were headed towards the island, facing a hotel with a room booked in our mother’s name and an enormous park filled with prehistoric monsters to explore.

I was broken out of my reverie when the polished wooden door swung open and Iain entered, waving goodbye to the female employee I had spoken to earlier. “It’s so beautiful, K,” he gushed, giddily sprinting towards my open arms on the bed. “I know,” I chuckled, placing my arms around his small body. “Are you excited?” It was a stupid question, really, for his jumpy body and electrifying spirit had given it away already. “YES! I’M GONNA SEE A T-REX!” he screamed while waving his arms around wildly, probably trying to gesture the size of the beast, but only succeeding in slapping me in the face with his small hand. ‘Ow’ I mumbled, grabbing his hand and gently pulling it away from my face. “You gotta be careful - someone might push you into its cage,” I teased. He gasped dramatically and let his entire bodyweight lean back over me, pushing both of us to lie down on the bed. “You would save me,” he stated simply. Then he turned around so he was facing me and hugged my horizontally placed body. Laughing, I answered: “Always, Iain.”

An hour later the ship had docked and people started piling out of the ship and onto the awaiting docks. Iain and I waited patiently for the other passengers to exit the ship, not wanting to get mashed up or get lost from one another. After 10 minutes or so we could leave slowly and peacefully, feeling the brisk, salty ocean air wash over us as we stepped onto the docks. People had slowly started heading towards the train station on the other side of the docks, and I quickly grabbed my brother’s hand and dragged him along. It was already around noon, and we had to check in at the hotel before we could even start exploring the park. “Slow down,” he whined, his short legs struggling to keep up with my longer strides. With a final tug, I jumped aboard the train and pulled him in, just as the automatic glass doors closed behind us. My eyes scanned the overly crowded train, and with a sigh I settled with the realisation that we would be standing up during the ride. The train was built out of glass, and the panoramic view surrounding us was astonishing. I lifted my brother up unto my shoulders so he could see over the mass of people. The island was mostly grass and trees, an overgrown lawn really, but the sight was breathtaking. In the distance the glinting of the ocean could be seen, the horizon between ocean and sky almost disappearing completely.

“Look, look!” Iain exclaimed, pointing his finger at the window. Far below us walked an entire pack of brontosauruses, their tiny frames casting long-necked shadows in the grass. ‘Wow’ I breathed silently, subconsciously strengthening my grip around his feet to keep him from falling off. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Jurassic World,” a soft female voice spoke over the intercom. Still with Iain on my back, I tried to maneuver myself a bit further down the train, just as a large wooden gate came into view. The words Jurassic World were written on them, and with a deep gravelly sound, they opened, allowing the train entrance into the park itself. Gasps and whispers broke out amongst the passengers on the train, and my stomach decided that it was time for it to do flip flops. A giddy feeling spread through my body, and I couldn’t help myself from bouncing on my feet a bit. The weight of Iain got too much, though, and with a labored sigh I heaved him from my back and back onto the floor. Iain was, too, unable to stand still out of pure excitement, and moments later the doors opened and the people poured out of the train.

After maneuvering myself and Iain out of the sea of people, we made our way down to the main street where gift shops, hotels and the main center of knowledge, which provided the opportunity to learn all kinds of stuff about all kinds of dinosaurs and the basics behind the DNA-research, were. “Time to check ourselves in, bud,” I said excitedly, tugging Iain and my suitcase behind me, a dinosaur-themed rucksack bouncing on my brother’s back. 

After locating the hotel, we entered the marble-adorned lobby and marveled at the luxurious appearance. A drawn-out impressed whistle caught my attention, and with a turn of my head, I spotted a boy who appeared to be around my age with a grey hoody drawn up over his head. With a few impressed nods of his head, he tilted his head to take in the beauty of the place. In front of him walked a pristinely dressed young woman and a younger boy, probably around 11, who kept rattling off information about the park and its inhabitants. The older boy was attractive enough, but I decided to keep my attention on getting us checked in. No need to go fall head over heels for a boy on the first day here. With a shake of my head, I got us over to the check-in line, and after waiting for a frustratingly long time, I was finally given a card to our room.

“I hope there’s a dinosaur there to greet us,” Iain gushed, eagerly pulling me into the elevator behind him. I couldn’t help but laugh at him. “There’s no way they would let a dinosaur out of their cage and into such close proximity with a visitor. That would be incredibly irresponsible,” a high-pitched male voice said, and with a fluttering sensation in my stomach, I realized the boy, his brother and their mom from earlier had joined us in the elevator. The smile on Iain’s face dropped and I sent a scowl in the younger boy’s direction. “Hey,” his brother said while placing a hand on the smaller one’s shoulder. “You never know in a place like this, right?” He sent a smile to my brother, whose spirits seemingly heightened once again, his grief completely forgotten. I mouthed a ‘thank you’ and received a breathtaking smile. “What floor?” the young woman interrupted, and I was reminded to briefly look down to the small piece of plastic in my hand. “7th,” I answered sheepishly, smiling gratefully when she pressed the correct button. After a slightly awkward silence, the elevator dinged, and I pulled Iain and my suitcase out of it. “Bye,” the older boy said, slowly waving his hand at us. “Bye,” I smiled back, turning around the corner of the carpeted hallway.

I slid the key through the crack and opened the door to reveal an average sized hotel room. Two separate beds stood along the right wall, facing a large television. The opposite wall of the door was purely glass and held a door, which led out to a small ledge, which held a great view of the center of the business-part of the park. Iain immediately threw his rucksack on the floor and ran to the door, only to open it and rush out to the balcony. “Iain!” I exclaimed, rushing after him in fear that he would somehow manage to get himself thrown over the railing. “Guess there was no dinosaur to welcome us, huh?” I asked as I reached him and ruffled his chestnut brown hair. “Oh well, there’s plenty of them down there,” he answered optimistically. I smiled, a sense of pride swelling in my chest over him for handling all of this so well. “So… Wanna go explore?” I asked. After a moment of fake contemplation, a finger tapping his chin, Iain said: “Alright.”


	2. Chapter 2

“So where do you want to go first?” I asked my brother as I snatched a map off a stand in the lobby of the hotel. I had changed out of my comfortable traveling clothes into a light floral summer dress, while Iain remained in his day-old shorts and T-shirt. “Ice cream!” he cheered, automatically heading towards the nearest tourist shop across from the hotel. A look of disbelief crossed my features. “Seriously? You have an entire park, filled with animals that lived literally 65 million years ago, and you want ice cream?” Out of the corner of my eye I swore I saw an elderly lady sitting down, smiling into her magazine. Iain shrugged. “It’s hot.”

After fishing out my wallet from my purse and buying him an ice cream, I decided to step up to the leader role and decide where to go next. “So, I was thinking the children’s pen. There are these small herbivores that you actually get to ride on! Doesn’t that sound exciting?” I gushed. Iain did not look one bit impressed. “That’s for small children.” With a small smile, I decided to keep my upcoming comment to myself, deciding to keep an open mind on this trip. “Okay. Then, where do you want to go?” It did not take Iain very long to decide. “The raptors!” he said, snatching the map out of my hands and checking for the matching circled number and attraction-title. I felt a bit apprehensive. He was young, and they were probably going to feed them some kind of live animal or something. But then again, our mother had given him permission to join me, so I guess that meant permission to see every dinosaur in the park. Maybe. 

Before I had time to make up my mind, Iain grabbed me by the hand and started dragging me along, in the direction of what I figured would be the raptors’ cage. Iain was right - it was insanely hot, and the clustering mass of people around us did not make it any less unbearable. I tightened my grip on his hand. “Stay with me,” I said sternly, mentally cursing my genetics for not making me taller than I was. If he did end up getting lost, I would have no way to see him. “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered nearly inaudibly, forcing his small legs to move faster. In a matter of ten minutes or so, we were standing in front of a square grey building with incredibly high walls. The front-gate had a painting of a raptor on it with the writing ‘VELOCIRAPTORS’ above. Inside, most of what I could see what steel-wire and a large staircase that lead to a walkway above the cage. My brother tugged me along, up the cornering staircase, until we reached the top. Around fifty other people were there already, their focus divided - they were either looking down into the pen, watching four moving raptors, or looking at a man standing in the middle of a restricted part of the walkway. In his hands was a strange device that clicked every time he pressed the button. “Stay!” he yelled with a gesture of his hand, and, surprisingly, the dinosaurs obeyed him. Three clicks followed. “There we go!” One after one, he threw the raptors a dead rat. “Blue!” he said, his attention on one of the raptors. “This one’s for you.” Then he threw a rat directly into its mouth. “That’s so cool!” Iain gushed, running over to lean against the railway that was higher than he was. 

It was unreal. Actually seeing dinosaurs, alive, in a confinement that we, humans, had built. It was mind-blowing. Something I had never imagined I was going to see in my entire life. But here I was. Staring into the eyes of an extinct creature. The locked gate that signaled the restricted area of the walkway screeched as it opened, and the trainer, or whatever he was, stepped off the elevated part of the bridge. A large man headed his way, just as he was about to go down the stairs. “Man, he’s attractive,” I heard some girl whispering behind me. My curiosity got the best of me, and I looked behind me to see a small group of girls, definitely no older than me, standing huddled together in a circle, whispering to each other about how ‘hot’ the trainer was. The trainer who was probably in his thirties, might I add. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “So where next?” Iain asked impatiently, reaching into my purse to retrieve the map I had folded together and stashed in there. “Well, let’s see.”

I took his hand and steered him away from the people and put the map flat onto the railing, so it was working as a makeshift table. “There are the brontosauruses, the ceratopsians, the ankylosaurs, the-“ “The T-Rex!” Iain interrupted, pointing to the circled number under which the dinosaur was located. “Don’t you want to save that for later? We’ve got an entire week here,” I reminded him, stopping briefly to enjoy a breeze that ruffled my hair and cooled my heated skin. “Okay…” he answered, sounding more depressed than anything. With another eye-roll I tousled his hair. “Come on. There’s got to be some other dinos in here that are at least close to being as exciting as the tyrannosaurus,” I enticed. He looked to be thinking really hard for a moment. 

“How about the gyrospheres?” a manly voice said behind us, making me jump, clutching the map to my chest. The man, whom I recognized to be the trainer from before, chuckled and held his hands up in surrender. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you. That job belongs to the dinosaurs,” he said with a wink in Iain’s direction. With a chuckle, I managed to say an ‘that’s alright’. The nameless man before me looked at me for a moment, before gesturing to the map. “Can I see that for just a sec?” I held it out for him to take, glancing down to take in Iain’s face. He looked excited to be in this kind of proximity with someone who worked up close with dinosaurs. “Okay, so,” the man started, pointing his finger at a red dot on the map. “These are the gyrospheres, as I mentioned before. They are really cool. You get to drive around with the dinosaurs, getting this close,” he moved his thumb and index finger closely together. Iain looked excited already, and I sent the man a kind smile, mentally thanking him for saving me a whole lot of discussion with my brother. “Thanks, we’ll do that,” I said gratefully, retrieving the map in his outstretched hand. His hand, however, stayed in that position. “I’m Owen. Owen Grady.” With a small smile I shook his hand, his calloused fingers scratching at my softer skin. “I’m Keegan, and this is Iain.” He nodded with a smile and released my hand. “Nice to meet you. Did you enjoy the show?” he asked. I smiled sheepishly at him. “We were only here for the last part. But that last part was great! You must have been working really hard on that,” I joked, desperately hoping to not come off as rude or provocative. To my relief, the sound of his laughter met my ears. “Thanks. You’re right, the ending is the best part anyways.”

In the short while of silence that followed, I allowed myself to take in his appearance fully. He had slightly ginger hair, a matching scruff on his handsome face, and he was wearing a uniform in earthy colors. His toned muscles were visible through the thin layer of fabric, but I forced myself not to stare. He was attractive, I must admit. Perhaps I would enjoy my time on this island even more, if all of my male encounters were to unfold like this. “Do you want to come with?” Iain innocently asked, and I mentally face-palmed. “He’s working, you nut. We can’t just invite him with,” I mildly scolded before mr. Grady had a chance to say anything at all. 

He smiled apologetically at Iain, confirming what I had just said. “Another time, maybe,” he smiled. After glancing briefly at his watch, he turned his attention back to us. “Well, I’ve better get going. And I’ll promise you won’t be disappointed by those gyrospheres. Say hello to the dinos for me, will you?” he smiled cheekily at Iain at the last part, before disappearing down the metal staircase, leaving us alone once again. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” my brother yelled impatiently, weakly pushing my body forwards in the footsteps of the man before us. I chuckled. “Calm down, Iain. We’ll get there soon enough.”

 

We didn’t get there soon enough. For starters, I had realized that I was terrible at reading maps and should never ever try to do that again. We got lost and ended up at the wrong attraction three times, before I had to take my growingly impatient brother to the bathroom. I waited outside with my arms crossed, waiting for him to finish his business. A short boy with brown hair exited the bathroom, whom I mistakenly recognized as my brother. “You ready to go?” The boy looked up at me with a questioning look in his eyes, before recognizing me at the same time I recognized him. “Hey, you’re the girl from the elevator,” he said. “Hm,” was my only response, as I once again leaned against the wall to wait for my brother. “My brother will be happy to see you again. He thought you were pretty,” he continued casually, knowingly avoiding my slightly blushing face. “Pshh,” was the only thing I could manage to say with a wave of my hand. Of course he didn’t think I was pretty. This evil boy was just messing with me. “Ah, there he is.” I looked up to see him exiting the bathroom, closely followed by my brother. “t’s you,” he said surprised. “It is,” I smiled nervously, tugging Iain to stand protectively in front of me, even though his small frame offered no protection at all. “We never introduced ourselves. I’m Zach, and this is Gray,” the older brother explained. “I’m Keegan and this is my little brother, Iain.” The air was filled with a slight tension, which was, thankfully, broken by Iain. 

“So, where are you going?” The boys shrugged, apparently not having chosen their next destination. “We’re going to the… uh… what were they called?” Iain asked me, slightly embarrassed, and I playfully rolled my eyes at him. “The gyrospheres. They’re these plastic balls you can roll around in, apparently. I thought they sounded cool,” I said casually, simultaneously hoping they would ask to tag along, and that they wouldn't. It would be awkward. For I am not a particularly social being. “You could come with us, if you want?” Iain quickly offered. Ah, bless you Iain. You little brat who’s too open to strangers for it to be considered normal. “Sure!” Zach smiled, grabbing his little brother, Gray, by the upper arm. “I can walk just fine by myself,” he complained, forcefully wrestling himself out of his brother’s grip. Zack shrugged. “Wouldn’t want you to get lost.”


	3. Chapter 3

After putting our map in the hands of Zach, who was hopefully a better guide than I would ever be, we made our way to the gyrospheres. Turns out, it was all the way across the park. Thanks, mr. Grady. Gray and Iain seemed to get along pretty well, easily slipping into a conversation that landed on topics both of them were interested in. “So…” Zach started, folding the map away and tucking it in his back pocket. “Where do you come from?” he asked. Glancing down at Iain, I looked back to Zach with a smile on my face. “We’re from Wisconsin,” I replied, eager to get a conversation going between the two of us. “How about you?” “Well,” he started, “Gray and I live in Chicago with our parents. They decided it was time for us to spend some time with our aunt who runs this place. We haven’t seen much of her yet, though,” he added bitterly, and a frown matching his settled on my own face. “I’m sorry. At least you’ve got your mother here, right?” He looked at me questioningly before realizing what I meant. “Oh, Zara? No, she’s not our mom. She’s our aunt’s assistant, assigned to keep us company for today. I don’t know where she went, though,” he said with a devilish smile towards the end, resulting in a chuckle from me. 

“Well, I think we’re perfectly able to take care of our younger siblings, if you ask me,” I added nonchalantly, teasingly laying my arm across my brother’s shoulders and tugging him closer to my side. “Ain’t that right?” He wrestled to get out of my grip, but he was no match for my superhuman strength. I’m kidding, he broke out immediately. I’m weak. Zach laughed at us, and I could feel a slight heat crawling up my neck towards my cheeks. I turned my head away in the hopes that no one saw. 

“We’re here!” Gray yelled, excitement laced into his voice, as he instinctively grabbed my brother by the arm and dragged him towards the front of the line. “Wait!” I yelled. “You need to be some kind of VIP to skip the line!” I scolded, motioning for them to come back to the end of the line where I stood along with Zach. “Well…” Zach said casually before holding up his arm, revealing a blue silicone wristband with the park's logo on it. “We just so happen to be very important people.” He reached out to grab my sweating hand and dragged me to the front of the line. I felt bad for the people whom I had eye contact with down the line, but I tried to keep my eyes trained forward. My eyes connected with Iain’s for a moment, and the excitement evident in his body rubbed off on me. In front of us was some kind of loading station, where the plastic balls were kept still so passengers could be loaded into them. They looked like hamster balls, only with two comfortable-looking chairs located in the middle that somehow remained upright when rolling around. Between them was a stick that I figured was meant for steering the thing.

“Excuse me,” a long-haired teenager with an employee-tag attached to his chest said unsurely. “You only have two VIP-passes.” Gray looked at his brother nervously. “Well, our aunt said we could bring whoever we wanted, and we want to bring them,” Zach said stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. I was pretty sure he was lying, but naturally I wasn’t going to say anything. “Um…” the employee said, looking at the balls with a debating look. “No matter what, there is only room for two in each ball, so you’ll have to split up. You can have walkie-talkies, though, so you can communicate with each other,” he offered, and we quickly agreed, happy to not have been caught in our lie. We went along with our respective sibling, figuring we were probably too foreign yet to each other to be in such small confined space together. Zach and Gray were in the ball in front of us, and I shared an excited look with my brother. “I wanna steer!” he demanded, reaching out to grab at the handle. “If you can manage to follow them, then fine. Otherwise I am taking over.” 

During the first stretch of land, there was nothing. Grass, trees and rivers surrounded us, but no dinosaurs. In the distance I could see the tracks belonging to the glass train we arrived in. I heard Gray sigh over the walkie. “There’s nothing here,” he exclaimed frustrated. Gently prodding Iain’s hand off the stick, I took charge and rolled our ball up to be beside the boys. “I’m sure there’s plenty-“ “Look!” my brother interrupted, pointing into the distance. We had just rounded a corner in the clearing, and in front of us stood a pack of brontosaurs; probably the ones we saw on our way here. “And there!” Gray added, staring into the distance behind the brontos. Behind them were a different kind of herbivores whose name I didn't know. “They’re hadrosaurs,” Gray so kindly informed us. “Cool,” I heard Zach whisper, completely in awe. We rolled around there for quite a bit, getting dangerously close to the dinos. We swerved in between their legs and followed them, but they didn’t seem to mind. They were probably used to it, for they merely sidestepped us. 

Suddenly a message appeared on the touchscreen positioned between the two chairs. “ALL RIDES CLOSED. PLEASE RETURN TO THE LOADING STATION”. A glance into the opposite gyrosphere told me that Gray seemed as sad as my own brother beside me. “Aw, cheer up, brother,” I consoled him, reaching for the handle to turn the ball around, back towards the station. “Wait! Look!” Zach interrupted, staring off into the distance. In front of us was a giant metal fence with a giant metal gate, the words ‘restricted area’ written above. The gate was torn open, leaving a massive hole in the fence, its sides holding claw marks and the grass below trodden flat. “Uh…” I said nervously, immediately fearing the kind of dinosaur that would wreck such damage. None of the dinosaurs we had just encountered would do that - they were known as the gentle giants of the park. “We should totally go in there,” Zach continued. My eyes widened to the same size as my open mouth. “Are you insane?! Firstly, we are supposed to go back to the station - something is clearly wrong. Secondly: have you seen that massive gap?! What kind of dinosaur do you think could do something like that?” 

My rant obviously had no effect, for the boys in the gyrosphere beside us merely shrugged. I rolled my eyes. Boys. “I’m serious. We’re leaving, right now.” I turned our ball around and headed back the way we came. Luckily, none of the boys were there to shake the handle from my grip. “Oh, come on,” Zach whined, rolling their ball a tiny bit in our direction. “I’m just afraid that my brother, and you guys of course, are not getting the full Jurassic World-experience. Besides, these balls seem safe enough.” ‘The full experience? Safe enough?! That boy must be out of his mind’, I thought. Before I could do anything about it, the older brother rolled their ball right through the gap of the gate, into the darker and scarier part of the forest. “Oh, Lord help me,” I whispered irritated, as I turned our gyrosphere around to follow them. If I couldn’t stop them, at least I had to make sure they were gonna remain unharmed. Otherwise my conscience wouldn’t let me sleep at night. 

“Is this a good idea?” Iain asked nervously from beside me, and the shake of my head did not make him any less upset. “We’re gonna be okay,” I assured him quickly. “This won’t take long, if I have a say in it.” As we rolled deeper into the forest, different species of the giant reptiles appeared before us. I had a suspicion that some of them were carnivores. After rolling around in there for about ten minutes, I had had enough. “Alright guys, we are leaving right now. Please,” I begged, hoping to change their mind while I still knew which way to go. Heavy sighs met my ears from the opposite ball, but no objections. A small smile broke out on my face. “Wait,” Gray said before I had the time to do anything. Annoyed, I asked him: “What?” In front of us was a small pack of herbivores, peacefully gnawing on some leaves and other plants they could sniff up. But that was not what caught the smaller brother’s attention. “Look,” he said with a quivering voice.

In front of me, at first, I saw nothing. But what I saw next will forever be the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced. Dread settled into my bones, at the same time as panic spread through my chest as a wildfire. Reflected in the glass of the gyrosphere was the face of a giant dinosaur. It resembled a T-Rex, but was clearly much bigger, its arms longer and of more use. White scales covered its body, contrasting sharply with the bright orange color of its blinking eyes. 

“Jesus Christ.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Go, go, GO!” Zach screamed from beside us, forcibly steering their sphere forwards. Momentarily paralyzed, I did the only thing I could: I followed. Iain sat frozen beside me, his skin white as a sheet of paper. Our attempt at escape failed - we got no further than a couple of yards before the frightened herbivores around us bolted around frantically, running directly into our gyrospheres. The balls were thrown around sporadically, crashing into the surrounding trees and dinosaurs. “Shit, shit,” I whispered as the glass around us started cracking. Never had I imagined that this was the way for me to go: being eaten alive by a giant extinct reptile with my little brother sitting beside me, crying silently. The giant dinosaur attacked the smaller ones, taking them down with frightening speed. A giant fight was unravelling around us, and I had absolutely no interest in being there to witness it first hand. Claw-marks, blood and teeth was all that filled my sight for a moment, and like my brother, I couldn’t help but let out a few salty tears. A smaller herbivore was suddenly thrown into our ball, throwing us even further away, the glass around us cracking dangerously. “Oh no,” I cried, instinctively clutching my brother’s smaller hand in my own. He squeezed back with all of his might.

Suddenly our sphere sat still, leaning against a tree. The ground shook with each step the giant carnivore took, and I looked around frantically, searching for the boys. A vibrating sound coming from their ball made my heart leap into my throat. I couldn’t scream out to them - that would only bring the dinosaur’s attention onto us. 

Their ball had been turned upside down, the steering-device obviously broken. They were stuck, hanging upside down helplessly. “No,” I whispered, as I saw the predator slowly make its way towards them. Zach was reaching out to his vibrating cellphone, which had fallen out of his pocket and landed on the ceiling, which was currently facing the ground. The beast finally reached them, clutching their ball in between its arms, widening its jaws to place them around the ball, while the boys screamed and squeezed their eyes shut in anticipation. I couldn’t just let them die, but then again, I couldn’t sacrifice my brother and myself. Doing something I had never done before (thinking on my feet) I quickly reached over to unclick my brother’s and my own seatbelt and opening the door in our ball, preparing us to bolt. Then I screamed. As loud as I could, letting all of my frustration, anger and fear tear its way through my throat. My plan worked. The giant reptile turned its attention to us, letting their ball fall out of its grasp. “Run, run, RUN!!” I screamed at my brother, clutching his hand in mine and bolting off into the woods, as far away from the beast as possible. To my disappointment, it started chasing us, moving a lot faster than I ever thought it could. “RUN!!” I heard Zach scream after us, having let themselves out of their own ball. 

The reptile was closing in on us, and my brother’s speed was failing as a result of his short legs. I looked around us wildly, searching for a hiding spot or some kind of escape route, but I found none. We were in the middle of the great plains, surrounded by nothing but grass. The dinosaur behind us roared so loudly I thought my ears were gonna burst, and out of the corner of my eye I saw my little brother place his free hand over his ear, tears streaming steadily down his face. ‘This can’t be the way we die’, I thought stubbornly, somehow managing to find hope within our doomed situation. Risking a quick look back, I saw the monster a few yards behind us, stretching out its arms in an attempt to catch us. Suddenly the ground between our feet disappeared, and a frightening surge went through my stomach as my brother and I fell through the air, his scream echoing off the stone-walls. Luckily we hit water, and I realized we had just, unintended, jumped off a cliff. The salty water forced its way into my lungs and burned my eyes, but I knew we couldn’t go up there yet. I reached out to grab my brother, who was instinctively making his way to the surface for air. Above us, I could hear the dinosaur roar, followed by the sound of the ground shaking. Hoping it had left us, I allowed us to breach the surface. 

I drew in large gulps of air, shaking some hair out of my eyes. “Are you okay?” I asked frantically, pushing some of the water out of Iain’s face. I couldn’t tell if he was crying anymore. Silently, he nodded, and I clutched him close to my chest, the best I could while still treading water. “Let’s go,” I said determined, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him towards the shore. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I thought of the boys who were still up there with it. Had my plan helped them at all? Or had they been doomed by our escape? A sudden yell from above the waterfall made me snap my neck in their direction. “ARE YOU-“ Gray didn’t get to finish his sentence as Zach slapped his hand over his mouth, harshly whispering something in his ear. Good. No need to draw further attention to us. There was no way for them to join us except by jumping into the water as well. And to my surprise, they did. With a loud splash they hit the water below, and I quickly looked up, fearing that the beast had heard and would return. But it didn’t seem like it. 

The boys quickly resurfaced and swam over to us, being weighed down by their wet clothes. I rolled over, making room for them to lean onto the shore as well. “Are you okay?” Gray finally finished his sentence, scanning both of our faces. I was touched by his thoughtfulness. “Yeah, we’re good. I think. How ‘bout you, Iain?” He settled with a small smile, obviously still shaken by the recent occurrences. “That was insanely brave, you know,” Zach said quietly, staring at me. I couldn’t be bothered to be shy and lovestruck in the moment - my heart was still beating a billion miles per minute from the recent events. “Thanks.” “No, I mean it,” he insisted, shockingly placing his cold, wet hand on my own. “I’m not sure I would have had the courage to do the same.” Okay, now my heart was beating a little faster. 

After a few minutes where we all lay on the shore, catching our breath, we stood up and scanned the area for a way back to the park. “Which way do we go?” Gray asked, wringing a bit of water out of his soaked T-shirt. “That way,” Zach said determined, pointing in a random direction. I rolled my eyes, knowing that he obviously had no idea what he was talking about, but we might as well start walking somewhere. We settled on that direction, trotting through the tall grass and squishy mud, slowly feeling the clothes on our backs dry. “Is it gonna come back?” Iain asked suddenly, reaching out to grab my hand. I shared a silent look with Zach and decided that lying was, for once, the better option. “I’m pretty sure it won’t. Other dinosaurs must be more exciting to hunt than us scrawny humans, right?” He accepted my answer and kept walking forward silently. On the inside I felt bad for lying through my teeth, but it had to be done. There was no reason for him to be more scared than he already was. Zach and I were the adults in this situation, although none of us had even finished puberty yet. Deep inside, I feared the large reptile would come running after us again, or would be waiting for us as we turned a corner. Caution had me on my toes, reacting to every single noise around us, nearly jumping at the sound of a bird’s squeak. 

“It’s gonna be alright,” Zach whispered from beside me, bumping his shoulder into mine. I knew there was no way for him to know, and that he was only trying to console me, but it helped a little bit. Knowing that I wasn’t alone with my brother, knowing that the entire responsibility wasn’t on me. It felt good. Even his mere presence beside me calmed be down. “I hope,” I answered, keeping my eyes trained on the grass below. “Hey, look,” Zach suddenly said, stopping. I stopped as well, looking up to see what he was talking about. In front of us was what seemed to be an abandoned building, green vines climbing on the worn walls. It surprised me - we were still deep inside the, what I thought was abandoned, woods. “There’s a gate,” Gray bid in, moving to open it. I reached out to stop him, but relented when I realized there was no reason not to try. His brother moved to help him, and together they opened the large stone gate noisily. I cringed. We slowly moved inside and managed to make a torch out of a bone and some fabric that we found on the floor. Gray happened to have a box of matches in his ‘dork-pouch’ as Zach called it. What we stood in what seemed to be the old visitor-center from the original Jurassic Park building.

A few small dinosaur skeletons laid on the broken floor, signs and paintings giving us the idea of where we were. After following the freezing, clammy hallway, we ended up in what looked to be a garage. “No way,” Zach exclaimed, running towards two parked cars. “Oh, thank God,” I muttered, hoping the boys could start it up. My legs felt like jelly at this point. Gray was walking along the shelves that lined the walls, holding all kinds of outdated gadgets. I even saw a pair of nightvision-goggles. “Hey, Gray?” Zach asked, brushing a layer of dust off the hood of the old car. “Yeah?” he responded, turning away from his findings to stand beside his brother. I reached out to press Iain against my side in an attempt to offer him consolation. It probably didn’t help that much. “Remember when we helped fix up granddad’s old Malibu?”


	5. Chapter 5

I roamed about a little bit, trying to see if I could find anything useful laying around, like a flashlight or someting. “How about this?” Iain asked, trying to carry a large plastic box. It was way too heavy for him, so I quickly stepped over to relieve him. I had to give up my struggle, though, for the box was too heavy for me, too. “Hey!” I exclaimed, examining the plastic box a bit further. It seemed to be a car battery, which would explain its weight and looks. “What is it?” Zach went and stood behind me, peering over my shoulder to see what we were making a fuss over. “Incredible,” he laughed, running back to the hood of the car to see if it would fit. “What are the odds?” Gray asked incredulously, letting a smile find its way onto his face. I shrugged, not really caring about the odds of anything right now. What were the odds that human kind could ever find a way to breed an extinct animal that had died millions of years ago? And what were the odds that we, four random kids, were chased by an ominously huge one that seemed really determined to kill us?

The two brothers went about to do their thing, tinkering under the hood of the car, several times trying to turn it on, but with no luck. The more time they spent trying to get it fixed, the more my hope seemed to seep out of me. After an hour or so with no overwhelming progress, I was about to give up. That was until I heard the roar of the engine, meaning the car had come to life. “Oh, my God!” Zach said astonished, obviously proud of his, and his brother’s, work. “Yes!” his brother cheered, quickly jumping from his place on the driver’s seat to the one beside it. I helped Iain climb into the open back of the car, which showed to be a bit of a struggle as the car was quite tall and I was not. “Here, let me help,” Zach offered, easily picking my brother up and placing him gently on the backseat. “Thanks,” I muttered sheepishly, irrationally ashamed of my lack of height and strength. Without a warning, his arms encircled my waist and he pulled me up too, so I could take a seat beside my brother with ease. I let out a surprised ‘oomf’. I heard him chuckle quietly, muttering: “There we go.”

Before I had a chance to say anything, he climbed into the driver’s seat and put on his seat-belt, reminding me to do the same. Only, there were no seat-belts for me and my brother, so I settled with holding my arm tightly around him. “Didn’t you fail your driver’s test?” Gray asked before Zach had the chance to do anything. This caught my attention, and I looked at him through the rear-mirror. “Nah, only the driving-part,” he joked, placing his hands on the wheel. “Then I guess I’m driving,” I said quickly, not wanting to take any more risks than absolutely necessary to survive on this goddamned island. Quickly, I jumped out of the back, my knees groaning under my weight as I landed on the concrete floor. “I don’t think so,” the older brother argued, clutching the steering-wheel to prove his point. “But I think so.” Our younger brothers glanced anticipated between us, obviously just wanting to get out of that place, no matter who drove. But I didn’t want to be involved in a car-accident on top of it all, so I stood my ground. “I have my license, so I get to drive,” I said stubbornly, opening the door. I could see Zach was about to argue, but for some reason he kept his mouth shut. He muttered a ‘fine’ and jumped out, easily climbing in the back with my brother. Satisfied, I grasped the wheel and steadily drove out of the garage. We came out on the other side of where we had entered, and the mossy ground was not like any kind of environment I had driven in before, but I managed. “I hope the wheels don’t get stuck in the mud somewhere,” Gray suddenly said absentmindedly. Thanks, Gray. Now I had that to worry about, too. Through the rear-mirror I could see Zach smiling at the scowl on my face, which did not make my mood any better. Did neither of them understand the gravity of the situation? Probably not, for they were the ones who insisted on going through that damned gate in the first place, throwing all caution to the wind. But no matter how angry I was, I couldn’t find it in my heart to be angry with them. They were young and adventurous, and the only ones who could be blamed for our near-death encounter with that dinosaur would be the scientists who bred it. “So, which way to the park?”

After driving for about ten minutes, something in the rear-mirror caught the attention of the boy beside me. I was busy driving, so I simply asked him what he saw. “Uh…” he said nervously, turning his head to see it properly, which prompted his brother to do the same. “DRIVE!” they yelled in unison, probably figuring I would be stepping on the gas. But that was what I was doing already - this damned thing couldn’t go any faster. “What do you think I’m doing right now, genius,” I replied annoyed, still unaware of what they had seen. “Birds,” Iain gasped behind me, and I sunk my brows in confusion. Why were they getting all riled up over birds? I risked a quick glance in the rear-mirror and suddenly understood what they were talking about. Heading toward us came a giant flock of prehistoric birds. They were huge, practically the size of an average mammal, with beaks sharp as knives. “Pterodactyls,” Gray whispered, clutching his seat so tightly his knuckles became white. There was no where else for me to drive than on the road, so I applied even more pressure to the gas, although it only made a tiny difference. Once again, my heartbeat accelerated and my sweaty palms slipped on the steering-wheel. A slight pressure was lifted off my shoulders when I saw a gate in the distance, which I presumed lead into the park. But it was closed. On top of the wall above the gate stood two guards who seemed bored. “OPEN THE GATE! PLEASE, OPEN THE GATE!” the boys around me shouted, and I pitched in. The guards in front of us looked at us in mild confusion, before they looked up at the sky where the giant flock of birds was coming. Shock covered their features. 

Before long we were inside the park once more, but the wall had no use in protecting us from the birds. And of course this car was roofless, so we had nowhere close to hide - which means we ran for it. We grabbed each other’s hands and ran back to the center of the park, where we could hopefully hide inside a shop or inside the giant center. But our hopes were crushed when we arrived - all around people were running around screaming, some taken by the birds only to be dropped again moments later, probably cracking their bones or killing them in the process. I automatically held my hand in front of my brother’s eyes. He didn’t need to see it. Out of nowhere, a woman harshly ran into my shoulder, pushing me away from the boys, and before long they were completely out of my sight. “No, no, no,” I whimpered, jumping up and down and standing on my toes in an attempt to look above the thousands of people surrounding me. Without warning, a bird came to grab at me, and I miraculously dodged it by an inch, sending it flying into the glass window of the shop behind me. Splinters flew everywhere, hitting the people around me, including myself. It stung, but I was happy to not have been caught. Still, the panic was catching speed in my veins, making me more and more nervous. I had to find my little brother. “IAIN! IAIN!” I screamed, throwing my arms in the air in the hopes that he would recognize me, which he most likely wouldn’t. And I knew he wouldn’t be able to hear my screaming over the mass of people, but I had to do something. I just didn’t know what. Before I knew it, tears were once again streaming down my face. 

Somehow I made it out of the largest mass of people, down to the path outside a giant bassin. I did not want to know what kind of dinosaur was kept down there. If there was something I feared the most in this world, it would be being eaten by a giant animal in the dark depths of the ocean. I shuttered. Looking around, I searched for a table to stand on or something to elevate me, but everything around me was occupied by others who had also lost their companions. So I settled for screaming again. “IAIN! ZACH! GRAY!” My voice was getting hoarse, but there was nothing else for me to do. Scanning the crowd once more, I again fell short and literally fell to my knees, hiding my face in my hands. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way this was actually happening. A tap on my shoulder made me look up, and what I saw only managed to calm me down the tiniest bit. It was the trainer from earlier, only this time he was armed with what seemed to be a tranquilizing gun. “Are you okay?” he asked, kneeling down to my level, pushing the gun around to his back so it wasn’t in the way between us. 

I could only shake my head. “I can’t find my brother,” I cried, my eyes still frantically searching the crowds for some kind of familiar face. “And two others, Zach and Gray, they were with us, but then this woman bumped into me, and…” I couldn’t continue, so the man brought me to my feet and wrapped me in a comforting hug. People were still milling about around us. He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. “I’m gonna help you find them, okay?” he stated, his eyes holding a sincerity that I couldn’t deny. I nodded my head, trying to wipe away my steady flow of tears. Proving his reflexes, he quickly turned around to shoot a pterodactyl that was headed directly towards us. In the back of my mind I couldn’t help but wonder why he would offer to help me, a random girl out of at least ten thousand others, but I tried not to focus on it, instead being grateful of the fact that he did want to help. Out of nowhere a red-haired gorgeous woman came running up to us, dressed in a pristinely white outfit that had been dirtied and ripped. “Did you say Zach and Gray?” she asked desperately, clutching my shoulders while standing unsteadily on her cream-colored heels. “Y-yeah,” I replied nervously, not sure whether or not I should be scared of the woman, but then again, nothing really seemed that terrifying when you had just survived meeting a giant carnivorous dinosaur unlike anything you had ever seen before. “They’re my nephews,” she gasped, looking around wildly before settling her gaze on me once more. “You have to help me find them.”


	6. Chapter 6

Chaos was still surrounding us. People were running everywhere, every single one of them trying to find some kind of solace, but without luck. The birds pierced through windows and even walls, rendering no building safe. Owen quickly looked around, just like me, trying to find somewhere for us to go. Hopefully he was more skilled at that than I was. “Follow me,” he commanded, motioning towards me and the woman with his hand as he started walking briskly in-between two buildings, dodging everything that came our way. Many people had the same idea, and so it took a lot of effort to squeeze our way through to where ever he was headed. We rounded a corner, and in front of us stood a large grey Mercedes. “Got the keys?” he asked the red-haired woman, who quickly ran towards it saying that they were already in it. What kind of person leaves their car-keys inside a million-dollar Mercedes? Casting the thought aside, I immediately followed and jumped in the backseat, leaving the adults to sit in the front. Owen drove for a few minutes before backing up the car and parking it in an alleyway further away from the center of the park. Now we had a place to hide, at least.

“Okay, so a strategy,” the woman, whose name I still hadn’t been told, nearly begged. I scooted forward so I could look at them both through the gap between their seats. “They are still together, right?” Owen asked me, making me nod in agreement. “They were when I was pulled away. I don’t know if the same thing happened to them as well, though.” He nodded his head, processing the information as he looked at nothing in particular, squeezing his brows together in concentration. Their phones were most likely broken, at least Zach’s was from the encounter with the dinosaur, and Gray’s was likely rendered useless after jumping into the water, so we couldn’t contact them. My brother had no phone. We sat in the car for quite a while, the screams around us slowly becoming silent. I felt useless, sitting in a car doing nothing, but then again - there was nothing we could do before we had a plan. Just as my thoughts had taken a darker turn, the most miraculous thing ever happened. By chance, I looked up through the windshield and saw the boys running by. “WAIT!” I screamed, quickly scrambling out of the car and running after them. The adults hurried to follow me to see what was happening. “STOP!” I yelled, causing the, luckily three, boys to turn around. “Keegan!” my brother yelled in delight, running into my open arms and squeezing me tightly. 

“Zach! Gray!” the woman beside me cried, nearly falling to her knees in pure relief, right before she took off running towards them, engulfing them both in a huge hug. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” she asked, frantically searching their faces and limbs for any damage. “We’re fine,” Zach sighed, leaning against the nearest wall, clearly exhausted after running so much. “Yeah, me too, aunt Claire.” So that was her name. Claire. It suited her. “I thought I’d lost you,” I whispered into my little brother’s hair, clutching him tighter, earning a groan that made me chuckle. “Sorry.” The relief that swept over my body in that moment was almost unbearable and almost brought me to my knees, but miraculously I remained standing. The danger wasn’t over yet, far from it actually, but at least now I had my brother. And my friends. Owen remained standing behind us, his arms crossed over his chest. “Well, now that problem’s solved,” he joked lightly, earning a glare from Claire and a smile from me. 

While Owen and Claire picked up conversation, I went to stand beside Zach who turned to look at me. “I was worried about you,” he admitted, forcing a laugh. “I thought you were gonna be hurt or worse - trampled to death.” I widened my eyes in surprise. Sure, I didn’t exactly expect him to worry about my wellbeing, but saying it to my face? That caught me off guard. A blush crept onto my face, and I turned to look at the ground. “Thanks. Uh… I was worrying about you guys, too,” I said awkwardly, risking a glance in his direction. He was smiling goofily at me. “You’re cute.” By now my mouth was hanging loosely by its hinges. Where did that come from?

“Ah, puppy love,” came the unwanted voice of Owen, who had decided to join our party. I sent a scowl in his direction and received only an overly enthusiastic smile in return. “We gotta go help them smoke that dinosaur,” he said as a change of subject, pointing a thumb in the direction of the car. “You coming?” Instinctively, I looked to my little brother and Gray. “Of course we’re gonna take you to safety first,” he added. Relief once again washed over my body at the thought of not having to encounter the giant dinosaur once more. But Zach moaned beside me. “Oh, come on! I wanna come,” he whined, his eyes suddenly holding a pleading glint. Owen held out a hand to stop his begging. “Not a chance.” Behind him stood Claire whose facial expression clearly showed that she agreed with Owen. She was definitely not gonna put her nephews in any more danger. Zach’s shoulders slouched in disappointment. 

After piling into the car, the adults decided that the control room, which was tucked deep inside the main building of the park, would be the safest place for us to be. The main building was located quite a few miles north of the park itself, and it took a while to drive there. We could have been taken down to the other visitors, but Claire honestly thought that the control room was a safer place for us to be, in case the dinosaur somehow found its way down to the docks. After driving for half an hour, we reached the large building. “Lowery is still there, I just talked to him,” Claire explained as we climbed the stairs of the building. Half of the people surrounding us earlier had been picked up by the cruise ship while the rest were waiting down by the docks in a huge warehouse-like building, where doctors and volunteers tended to the wounded. For an island this big, they sure knew how to evacuate quickly. 

After climbing what seemed to be a million steps, we reached the control room. It was a darkened room with carpeted floors and walls, buttons, controls and touch-screens taking up most of the space. In the middle sat a young man, probably in his late twenties, keeping an eye on one of the screens showing a digital map of the island. He wore black, square glasses and a white T-shirt with the old Jurassic Park-logo on it. “Lowery!” Claire said, relief seeping into her voice, as she went down the three steps that lead down into the room. “Claire,” he mumbled, obviously not as happy to see her as she was to see him. 

Claire turned to us and gestured to the room we were in. “You’ll be staying in here until everything is safe, alright?” she asked, even though she would not be taking a no for an answer. I nodded in relief, while the others nodded hesitantly. Damn those adventurous souls. That was not a useful trait to have in a situation like this. “Let’s go,” Owen said with a jerk of his head in the direction of which we came from. Claire nodded and gave a final hug to her nephews, while Owen came down to give me a reassuring hug. “Stay,” Claire demanded sternly, taking the time to thoroughly look into each of our eyes. With a turn on his heel, Owen was walking away, the red-head immediately following him.

I knelt down to the level of my brother, taking his face into my hands. “We’re gonna be okay. I promise.” Iain’s eyes got watery, but somehow he managed to keep the tears at bay. My heart swelled at his courage. Who knew a 7-year old could be this brave? Had it been me, I would have probably been hiding under a desk or something. The thought made me smile for a second. Zach and Gray went over to take a seat in the chairs that stood by the various control panels. “Don’t touch anything,” the man, Lowery, warned, without looking up from his screen. The boys rolled their eyes but kept their hands to themselves. 

I grabbed my brother’s arm gently and steered him in the direction of the chair that stood beside Zach’s, taking that chair for myself while guiding Iain to the one beside it. “So…” I sighed. “Seems like we’re gonna be here for a while.” The room was mostly silent, for most of the gear had been turned off, except the controls Lowery was tinkering with and a giant digital map of the island on the wall furthest away from us. “Can you see them?” Gray asked, standing up to peer over the shoulder of the older man. “I can,” he responded tiredly, and with a swipe of his finger, he dragged the video he was watching onto a bigger screen so that we could see, too. The image had a green tint to it and was not in a great quality, seeing as it was footage from surveillance cameras, but it was better than nothing. “Wait. Are those…” I asked, suddenly not sure of what I was seeing. “Raptors. Yeah,” Lowery responded, a bitterness in his voice. “Some jerk with a lot of power named Hoskins decided that it would be a great idea to let the velociraptors aid them in their search for the Indominus Rex,” he explained, not bothering to take in our confused faces. 

“Indominus Rex?” I asked, quickly associating the name with the giant reptile that tried to kill us earlier. He nodded silently, leaning back into his chair to stretch. I shared a look with the boys, only to turn my attention back to the older man. “We’ve met it,” I whispered, growing a bit more scared after learning the name of the beast. It having a name somehow made it seem more real, more dangerous than it already was. The man’s mouth fell open. “Seriously? And you’re still alive?” he asked incredulously. We shrugged simultaneously. “But… You’re kids!” he exclaimed, earning a scowl from every single one of us. “Brilliant kids, then,” I replied sourly, crossing my arms over my chest. He held his hands op in surrender, quickly turning his attention back to the screen in front of us. “Oh no,” my brother whispered from beside me, his eyes also trained on the screen. Owen was sitting on some kind of bike, flanked by other bikes and a large van. In front of him stood the four raptors he trained, and in front of them stood the monster that made my blood run cold. For some reason I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen, although I honestly wanted to do nothing more than exactly that. “They’re… communicating with it,” Gray whispered nervously, reaching out to grab his brother’s arm. “Oh, no.” Slowly and menacingly, the raptors turned their attention back towards the armored people who had trusted them to be on their side. “Please,” I begged, although I had no idea to whom I was begging. With a heartbreaking ferocity, they attacked the military guys, including Owen. And suddenly one of them must have broken a camera, for the screen went glitchy for a moment before showing nothing but darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

“They’re gonna be alright,” I insisted harshly to no one in particular. Lowery was switching between all kinds of cameras to see if they could be seen somewhere else, but nothing came up. They were, visually, gone. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing,” Zach complained, but I knew we had to think rationally. There was nothing we could do that would in any way help - if anything, we would only end up being one more burden on their shoulders. I nervously bounced my knee as a way of relieving my stressful energy. Our younger brothers had went off to sit in one of the carpeted corners, clearly not knowing where to put themselves. Without hesitation, Zach placed one of his hands on my knee, stopping its movement. “Relax,” he mumbled, “you’re getting me nervous.” I sent him a sheepish smile, literally forcing my leg to remain still.

Lowery had started scrolling through all the stations on his walkie to see if he could contact any of them. “Where do you think aunt Claire is?” Gray asked quietly, making his brother turn his head towards him. “She wasn’t in the picture,” he elaborated. Zach shrugged helplessly. “Some place safe, I hope. Owen’s a good guy; he wouldn’t deliberately put her in danger,” he reasoned, looking at me for confirmation. I slowly nodded my head. “Claire? Owen?” Lowery asked for the hundredth time, still adjusting the frequency on his walkie. “Lowery?” came the breathless voice of Claire. The two boys looked up immediately, running towards the man and the source of her voice. “Aunt Claire?” they asked simultaneously. “Boys,” she said relieved, still out of breath. She had obviously been running.

“Are you okay?” Gray asked, suddenly receiving no answer at all. “Aunt Claire? Claire!” Zach yelled, grasping the walkie out of Lowery’s hand and holding it up against his mouth. Only the sound of the scratching frequency met our ears, and I swallowed loudly. She couldn’t be dead. There was no way. Silence filled the room around us, every single one of us tensed up. I crossed my fingers, hoping for the best, although I knew it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. “I’m here!” came a sudden voice from the walkie, prompting all of us to breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank God,” Lowery mumbled, tiredly rubbing his hand over his creased forehead. “I had to stay silent, something was… chasing me, and I was hiding,” she explained quietly, her voice not entirely clear through the communication device. “Where are you?” Zach asked curiously, for some reason glancing over at me. “I’m back in the car,” she started, “Owen said it was too dangerous for me after being forced to work with the raptors. I think they ran loose, ‘cause one of them came running at me…”

She ended her sentence right there, clearly shaken up by what had just happened. But at least she was okay. That was what mattered right now. “Do you know if Owen’s alright?” she asked nervously. “No,” I answered regretfully, also having moved to stand beside the walkie. She inhaled sharply but offered no reply. “Are you coming over here or are you staying?” asked Gray. “The raptors are still running around - I’m lucky they haven’t found me yet. I can’t come to you,” she said, her voice cracking towards the end. My heart ached for her; I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be alone in a situation like that. At least we had each other. “Oh God,” she breathed, before silence met our ears once again. The boys around me called her name, but got no answer. I didn’t dare think about what had happened to her.

Agitatedly, Lowery grabbed the walkie-talkie and threw it on the desk before him. I once again sat down, for some reason feeling more deflated than before. “I want mom,” my little brother whimpered from the corner, immediately gaining my attention. I went over to him and wrapped my arms around him. My heart longed for our mother, too, but it had been tucked away to the back of my mind while running around in chaos. Now that we sat still, I truly felt the impact of the longing that I shared with my brother. “I know,” I comforted him. “I miss her, too.” For a while nothing but silence surrounded us. We each had our own thing going - Lowery was fiddling with his gadgets, Zach had buried his head underneath his arms on the desk in front of him, and Gray seemed to have fallen asleep while I just sat on the floor, holding my brother in my arms.

All of a sudden, the walkie acted out again. “Lowery?” came the unmistakable voice of Owen. I immediately looked up, as did Zach. “Yeah, it’s me,” Lowery replied quickly, sitting up straighter in his chair. “The plan backfired. The raptors…” Static interference broke him off for a few seconds, before his voice could be heard once again. “… communicating, and now they’re all on the loose,” he said, sounding increasingly agitated. He continued immediately. “They have sent off a helicopter with some heavy armory, hoping to take it down from the sky. We’re coming for you.” By now I was beyond confused. Was it a good thing that they had sent the helicopter, or was it merely a sign that things had gotten out of their control? Were we safe? Should we be relieved or scared? Thoughts were running through my mind going a million miles per minute, rendering me unapproachable for a moment. I did notice my brother lightly shake my arm, but I couldn’t find it in me to respond. “Hey.” Someone snapped their fingers in front of my face, and startled I looked up into the face of Zach. “You okay?” he asked worriedly, gently placing himself next to us on the floor.

“Yeah, of course,” I said, shrugging it off as though it was nothing, although my courage was crumbling on the inside. I had to be strong for Iain. For myself. For my mother. Surprising me, Zach slowly placed his arms around my shoulders, obviously awaiting some kind of negative response. When none came, he tugged me closer and said: “It’s okay to be scared.” Tears were threatening to spill down my cheeks, but I looked up to the ceiling as an effort to keep them at bay. “I know,” I said eventually, subconsciously scooting further into his warm embrace. “It’s just…” I didn’t know what to say at this point. No possible combination of words I could ever construct would be able to express what I felt right in that moment. I was afraid of dying. I was afraid of my brother dying. I was afraid of leaving my mother childless. I was angry with myself for not handling the situation better. I just felt. Everything. Every possible emotion. It was unreal. Up until twenty years ago, dinosaurs were an extinct race, and now they were roaming the Earth once again, reclaiming their position at the top of the food chain. And I was right in the middle of it.

“I know,” he responded quietly, knowingly. We remained in that position for a few more minutes before the automatic glass doors slid open, revealing a frazzled-looking Claire and an angry-looking Owen. With a surprising sense of calm, they went further into the room and sat down in the empty chairs. “It’s part raptor,” Owen said bitterly, not waiting for any kind of response. “That’s why they wouldn’t say anything. They made the damn thing part raptor, and now it’s communicating with my raptors, blowing the idiots’ plan up in our faces. They killed Echo.” The last part he said so quietly, I almost didn’t catch it. The look on his face was heartbreaking. If there had ever been any doubt about his love for his raptors, it was long gone. “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say, for I knew not what would console him right in that moment. He didn’t acknowledge me, except for a slight turn of his head in my direction. “We lost a dog once,” Iain bid in all of a sudden, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. “It was a very nice dog. It got hit by a car.” His reminiscing brought out an unwelcome feeling of nostalgia, and I quickly enveloped him in a side-hug, hoping that he would drop the story before I was brought to tears. He didn’t.

“It made me cry. I loved him. He was my bestest friend. But he’s in a better place now. That’s what dad said.” Owen smiled at him, not breaking the silence that had once again found its way into the room. Claire sat beside him, her eyes nearly as watery as mine. The sound of glass shattering immediately gained the attention of us all, as we all turned to look at the entrance that was locked by a thumbprint-scanner. My heart sank at the realisation of just how vulnerable we actually were. The only thing protecting us from whatever was out there was a thin glass-wall. “I figured they wouldn’t climb the stairs,” Claire whispered, her eyes still on the door. Whatever was out there, it made more noise than a single human would ever be able to make. Zach’s grip around me tightened, as did mine around Iain. The sweet kid reached out to grab the hand of Gray, so he wasn’t sitting all alone. If a dinosaur was actually out there, we were trapped. There was literally only that one entrance. Instinctively, I closed my eyes, mentally preparing myself for the impending death I was convinced was heading our way.

The sound of claws scratching on marble-floors met my ears, and I squeezed my eyes so tightly together, a few tears escaped. Iain’s breathing got faster, and he had to hold his hand over his mouth in an effort to remain quiet. The sound of breaking glass made me open my eyes, for this time it was much closer. The sight that met me made a knot form in my throat, almost rendering me unable to breathe. A few inches behind the glass-entrance stood a raptor. It stood completely still, its eyes scanning all of us, before finally settling on Owen, who slowly stood up and calmly held out his hands in surrender. The raptor was yet to break the glass - it remained perfectly still, its breath creating small clusters of steam on the glass. Owen slowly shook his head, as an indication that the raptor should leave us alone. What it did next, left me speechless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment on this, guys. It would mean a lot, and tell me whether I should continue or not :)


	8. Chapter 8

It walked straight past us. I couldn’t believe it. The pressure on my chest slightly dissipated, not entirely gone as I was still fearing that it would return. “Blue,” Owen mumbled, walking up to the glass to see where it had gone, returning when he was certain it wasn’t coming back. “Good girl.” 

Zach broke our embrace by going up to talk to his aunt, leaving me feeling colder. Immediately I missed his touch, but hugged my brother tighter to my chest in an effort to distract myself. “We thought you died,” I heard Zach say, quickly being embraced by a teary Claire. “I thought I was going to,” she admitted when she retreated her arms. “But the predator coming my way turned out to be Owen,” she laughed slightly, almost coming off as hysterical. Owen showed the ghost of a smile, murmuring: “Guilty as charged.” Slowly untangling my arms from my brother, I rose to stand next to the others. “How is it going with the Indominus?” I couldn’t help but ask, almost feeling guilty when I saw the frown that settled on Owen’s and Claire’s faces. “They haven’t gotten it yet,” Claire admitted, sighing heavily as she sat down gracefully in one of the chairs, out of instinct straightening out her skirt, which didn’t make a difference now as it was already dirtied and ruined. 

“Can I have some water?” I asked, suddenly feeling parched from running around in 100 degrees. Claire pointed towards a water dispenser standing along the wall opposite us. Had she not pointed it out, I wouldn’t have seen it, for it was enveloped in darkness. “Go ahead,” she invited casually. Feeling sheepish, I grabbed a paper cup for myself and my brother and filled them up, my mouth watering at the coldness apparent through the paper. I handed one to my brother and sat down next to him once again, swallowing the entire content in my cup in a single mouthful. My brother settled with a small sip and then placed the cup down in front of us. “You gotta stay hydrated, yeah?” I reprimanded slightly, pushing the cup into his hands once again, urging him to take at least one more sip. 

“You’re a good sister. You know that?” Zach suddenly cut in, once again sitting down next to me on the floor. Once again, unwanted heat rose to my cheeks, and I silently thanked the darkness around us for making it less obvious. “Well, it’s my job, right?” I answered embarrassed, fiddling nervously with my fingers. “I guess,” he shrugged, turning to look at Gray. “I’m not always the best big brother Gray could have asked for.” I didn’t know what to answer, so I settled with a casual shrug. His sudden compliments and confessions were strange, but not entirely unwanted. Except for the fact that I never knew what to say to them, proving my absolute lack of social skills. “I’m sure you are what he needs you to be,” I answered finally, glancing at the sleeping form of Gray. “It’s different with brothers. He needs you to be tough on him, I think.” My rubbish philosophy earned me a breathtaking smile, and my heart fluttered involuntarily. Damn him and his ability to mess with my heart-rate. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t need me to be an asshole most of the time, though,” he sighed, regret clearly shining through his exterior. “Well…” “I can handle it,” a newly awoken Gray said sleepily, rubbing his small hands into his eyes to get rid of any sand. “Of course you can,” I smiled at him, and with a newly found bravery I leaned over to clap Zach on the chest. “You’re this guy’s brother.”

In the silence that followed, I casually looked down into Iain’s cup, which was still half full. “Uh, guys?” I asked unsure, causing Owen to perk up. “What?” he asked curiously. “Come see this,” I said nervously, prompting him to walk briskly over to me, glancing down into the cup where I was looking. Ripples danced on the surface rhythmically, reappearing once every other second. “Do you think…” Zach trailed off, only to be replaced by the sound of a giant roar that shook the entire building, causing several items of equipment and trinkets to fall over. “Oh no,” Claire whispered, clasping her hand over her mouth. It was here. The giant monster I had hoped to never encounter again was here. There were no windows in the room, so we couldn’t see how close it was, but it had to be near the building for its steps to resonate in the water. Iain whimpered quietly as my stomach started churning and tying itself into knots. I looked at Owen desperately, hoping that he would somehow manage to be able to save us all, even though I knew it was impossible. He was only human, just like the rest of us. 

No one moved as the giant reptile’s steps resonated in the building. The sound of a large gun being fired could be heard, followed by the massive roars of the beast. It didn’t sound as though they were any close to taking it down. Suddenly the worst thing that could possibly happen, happened. The Indominus fell into the tall building we were currently in, bringing down half of it. The floor beneath our feet cracked, and the boys and I hurriedly jumped up and ran towards Owen, Claire and Lowery on the other side of the room, where they greeted us with open arms. The corner we had sat in just moments ago had been torn away, leaving a giant hole in its wake. “Owen, no!” Claire chastised as she reached out to Owen, who was walking over to the edge to look down. I could see him swallow loudly, but otherwise he remained calm and collected on the outside. “We have to get out of here,” he commanded. I honestly had no interest in going anywhere else, for I had felt safe in this room, but then again there was no place where it couldn’t get to us eventually. 

A sudden unwanted thought popped into my head. “What if the raptor’s still out there?” I asked quickly, causing the rest of our group to remember the predator on the other side of the glass wall. “Jesus,” Lowery sighed, once again running his hands over his head. The sudden change of circumstances made me feel as though we were mice trapped in a cage, a deadly, formerly extinct cat waiting on either side. Instinctively we all looked to Owen. He was their alpha, after all. “If we go out there,” Claire began slowly, “could you order it… to not kill us?” The air was thick with tension and expectation, and I honestly felt sorry for the guy. So much pressure was put on him alone. He slowly nodded his head, turning to look at the doors. “I think I can. And it’s our only opportunity if we want to live.” The situation we were in kept getting more and more real, and I was no longer hoping to wake up in my bed with it all merely being a nightmare. 

A slightly damp hand clasped mine in their own and pulled me with the group, which was headed towards our escape. I looked up to see Zach, who smiled comfortingly back at me. Beside us walked our younger brothers. As soon as Claire reached out to open the doors, my heart-rate went through the roof, and I was almost certain Zach could feel my racing pulse through my fingertips. Owen breathed out slowly before walking out alone, checking to see if the coast was clear. He turned in the direction in which the raptor had went, and a minute later he reappeared, seemingly relieved. “Let’s go,” he ordered, taking the lead as we went towards the exit. The battle was still going on strong out there, with inhumane sounds overwhelming our senses. Practically half of the building had been torn off, rendering it almost impossible to navigate through, and eventually we reached a hole that could not be sidestepped. “We have to jump,” Owen said sternly while I analyzed the gap. It didn’t seem impossible to jump over it, but for me I knew it was. If there was anything I was horrible at, it was corporal activity. 

Owen jumped first, landing safely on the other side. Then went Lowery, who narrowly made it, only because Owen reached out to reach him. Then went Claire, who surprisingly managed to do it in her heels. That woman was seriously hardcore. I turned to look at our brothers, whom I doubted would make it. “I’ll throw them,” Zach said hastily, reaching out to grab Gray first. My eyes widened. If he ended up accidentally throwing my brother over the edge, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. No matter how many butterflies he managed to put in my stomach. Owen spread his arms and easily caught him on the other side. Then he threw Iain, who was quite a bit smaller, while I bit my nails nervously. “Your turn,” Zach offered, standing back to give me a bit of space. I breathed out slowly, bracing myself for the inevitable. Starting with a small run, I put every single cell in my body to work as I jumped. Surprisingly, I landed steadily on my feet. Then Zach easily jumped over, once again clasping my hand in his own. 

We didn’t waste any time in navigating further through the building, walking down the many steps we had taken while going up. It was a lot easier when going in this direction. Before I knew it, there was only one floor to go before we reached the ground-level, but I didn’t allow myself to sigh in relief. We still had to find some place safe as a replacement. After quickly going down the stairs, again navigating through large pieces of debris and shards of glass, we reached the outside. Luckily, the Indominus Rex was on the other side of the building. “This way!” Owen yelled with a wave of his arm as he lead us across the parking lot. We ran for a minute before reaching a large silver van, which only held to seats in the front. “You’ll have to sit in the back,” Claire said hurriedly to us and Lowery, who frowned. But he didn’t object. She hastily opened the metal doors for us and let us jump in before she secured them once again. There were seats in there, but no seatbelts, so I settled with clutching my seat so hard my knuckles turned white. As the van started moving, I looked around. Military gear hung on the walls, such as helmets, guns and tasers. There were two windows in the doors, so at least we had a chance to see if anything came running after us. I didn’t know where we were headed, but at his point I didn’t really care. As long as it was away from the Indominus Rex.


	9. Chapter 9

The equipment surrounding us rattled and fell off its racks as we were driving along what seemed to be a bumpy dirt road. Time had passed by quickly in the flurry of events, and it was now night. The darkness loomed behind the closed metal doors, and the yellow light from the lamp in the ceiling cast glooming shadows. Lowery tapped his feet rhythmically against the floor, each tap bringing me closer to insanity. “Will you stop that?” I snapped, immediately feeling guilty as I took in the sheepish look on his face. “Sorry,” he muttered, and I leaned over to pat his knee comfortingly, wearing an expression of regret on my own face as well. Stress had kept building up inside me throughout the day, and I didn’t know how much more I could take before having a mental meltdown. A particularly large bump in the road forced the doors of the van open, and since I was only holding on to my seat with one hand, I was thrown slightly into the air before tumbling towards the opened exit. 

“Keegan!” the boys yelled, each of them reaching out to grab me, but they were too late. With a small scream, I fell out of the van, hitting the gravelly road beneath me hard and painfully. I lay on the ground while groaning in pain, as the van screeched to a stop around fifty yards down the road. Pain seared from my ankle all the way up to my knee, which I clutched with a hiss. There were no lights except from the one emitted from the stars above, and I couldn’t see anything around me. Panic took over me as I head footsteps fast approaching, and my breathing hitched in my throat. If a dinosaur came to get me now, I was dead. A hand touched my shoulder, causing me to let out a tiny scream, before the same hand was clasped over my mouth. “Shh,” Owen hushed, and I looked up at his darkened shape. “Are you hurt?” he whispered worriedly, removing his hand to place it on my shoulder. With a nod I soon realized he couldn’t see, I quietly said: “My leg.” Before I knew it, Owen lifted me with surprising ease, prompting more pain to flare up in my leg, carrying me quickly back to the van bridal-style. I bit down into my lower lip to keep in the pained squeals that would have erupted otherwise. 

When he reached the van, he gently passed me into Zach’s arms before quietly, but firmly, closing the doors once again. The van soon sped off again, and Zach put me down in one of the chairs, hurriedly sitting down in the one next to it. “Are you hurt?” he repeated the question Owen had asked moments before, and I could do nothing but nod. I was certain that if I opened my mouth, a scream would tear its way out of my throat. “Where?” he asked just as worried, his eyes scanning my body for any visual injury. I gently padded my left leg, which I stretched out in front of me to relieve it of any strain. He reached out to touch it, but quickly thought better as he saw the look on my face. “Sorry,” he murmured. Then he turned around to slide open the window that separated us from the front seats. “Are there doctors where we’re headed?” he asked. Claire turned around with a frown and said: “If we make it to our destination, then yes. There are.”

Genuine relief flooded through me for a moment, before I mentally chastised myself. Despite how far we had come, we were still not out of the danger-zone. Yet. A lot could still happen during the stretch of land we were yet to drive across. Zach turned around and hooked his arm underneath mine to keep me in my seat. I smiled embarrassed at him, suddenly feeling silly for even managing to get thrown out of the moving truck. He smiled at my facial expression before looking away once more. I looked over at Iain and gave him a small smile. He was still sitting next to Gray, and I was grateful that he was willing to take care of my brother when I didn’t have the energy to, even though they weren’t the same age. The thought made a question pop into my head. “How old are you guys, by the way?” I asked spontaneously, letting my gaze flicker between the two brothers. Amidst all of the trouble we had gone through, we hadn’t had the time to get to know each other that much. So I figured now would be a good time to do so, since we didn’t really have much else to do. Plus, it would be nice to have some kind of distraction to take my mind off the pain that was currently coursing through my aching body. 

“Well,” Zach started, only to be interrupted by Gray. “I’m 11 and he’s 17,” he finished. I nodded satisfied with their answer. “How about you?” Gray countered. “16,” I answered as I leant my head back to rest against the wall. Fatigue washed over me in that moment, and I was tempted to close my eyes for a bit. It had to be at least around midnight, and we had already spent a great amount of time traveling to even get to the island in the first place. But the bumpy road made my head slam repeatedly into the wall, and with a sigh I heaved my head back into an upright position. “You can lean your head on my shoulder, if you want,” Zach offered sweetly, and I couldn’t help the large smile that broke out on my face. “Thanks.” His shoulder turned out to be surprisingly soft and warm, and this time I couldn’t help my eyes falling shut. It literally hurt my eyes every time I blinked. 

Silence overtook the room again, and just as I was about to slip into a coveted dream-state, a giant roar rumbled around us, causing birds to quickly flee from their nests in the trees lining the road. Iain and Gray looked at us wide-eyed, and we stared right back at them. The ground didn’t shake beneath us yet, but I still tightened my grip around Zach’s arm as though it made a difference. “It’s probably not that close,” Lowery tried to reason, but it was a lame attempt. It was obvious he didn’t believe it himself. Without a second thought, I turned around to slide open the window behind us. “Where are we right now?” I asked, desperately hoping that we would be close to our destination. “Not far, kid,” Owen consoled me lightly, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. “Thank G-“ My sentence was interrupted as something ran forcibly into the side of the truck, making it tilt, skidding quite far while laying on its side. Glass shattered around us as we all fell out of our seats, and with a ‘thump’ I landed on top of Zach, momentarily knocking the air out of both of us. An insane amount of searing pain once again shot through my body, as well as shatters of glass digging into my skin. Had I not been breathless, I would have screamed out my lungs. Our brothers and Lowery landed beside us, and we all looked at each other, terrified, as the van continued to move. 

When it was finally lying still, we all held our breath. A reptilian gurgled sound erupted from outside the truck, and I snapped my head towards the now opened doors. Outside stood a raptor, its image tilted as we lay on our sides. It scratched its talon into the dirt repeatedly, turning its head to look at us. The gurgled sound once again emitted from its throat. My heart was hammering so fast in my chest that it was physically painful, adding to everything else I felt in that moment. The raptor was distracted by the sound of a door opening, and I instinctively knew, and hoped, that Owen was climbing out of the truck to communicate with it. “Charlie!” he reprimanded, causing the dinosaur to look at him in wonder. “Stay. Stay!” It did as it was told momentarily, before snapping its jaws at him. “Stop that. I see you!” he once again chastised, now coming into our view. It turned its head to look at us inside the truck, before looking back at him. Owen looked at it expectantly, shaking his head when it looked at him questioningly. The alpha-trait quickly became apparent in him as it bowed its head slightly, almost as if ashamed. And just as the other raptor had done earlier, it left. 

“Thank God,” I whispered, now again feeling the full impact of the pain in my leg. “We have to go on foot from here,” Owen said, almost sounding deflated. “But we can make it,” Claire said forcefully, clearly not one to easily give up hope. We all climbed out of the truck, and I fell down as I tried to pull myself up while leaning against the ruined vehicle. “Here,” Owen said as he grabbed my arm and gently pulled me up, proceeding to lead my arm around the back of his neck. He supported me back to the rest of the group, where Zach requested that he should be the one to help me, mainly because of the height difference between Owen and I. I had no objections towards that, to be honest. 

The air was more chilly than during the day, but it was still incredibly humid. Sweat started gathering on my forehead, and I wiped it away with my free hand. I felt bad for being such a burden on everyone, forcing them to slow down their tempo, but there was nothing for me to do. Just like during the rest of the situation, I had absolutely no power to do anything. I was helpless. They told me that it wasn’t really a problem, but I knew it was. The more time we spent out here, the bigger the risk for being eaten by a giant reptile was. “In here!” Claire whispered hurriedly as we reached a metal door in a metal fence. She slid a key-card through a machine and led us through the gate as it opened. We were only back at the park. The ride back in the car had seemed much longer than what it felt like to leave in the first place, but I guess the massive amount of adrenaline coursing through my body made time seem to go slower. It was completely silent around us, the only noise breaking the silence being the taps of our shoes and the ripple of water. I looked towards the giant bassin in the middle, immediately shivering at the thought of what kind of beast was down there. The missing sound of a helicopter’s rotor was frightening. Now there was nothing left to defend us from the beast - at least not until reinforcements arrived from outside of the island. “Where are the rest of the military guys?” Gray asked curiously, ever the attentive boy. Owen snorted bitterly. “They ran with their tails between their legs.” So now we were alone. We were alone on an island that was now freely inhabited by formerly extinct reptiles without any means of protection. Our vehicle had just been rendered useless, and there was no way we would ever make it down to the docks on foot. “We’re screwed, aren’t we?” Lowery asked quietly as we stood in the middle of the plaza, looking for some place to hide. Claire sighed heavily, but I answered for her. “Yes. Yes, we are.”


	10. Chapter 10

The calmness of the night was occasionally broken by the sound of a giant, terrifying roar, each one sounding closer than the one before. We navigated through the empty plaza while sidestepping all sorts of debris and broken glass, me being far less graceful than the others. Most of the gift shops and restaurants had been razed to the ground earlier, so there were not a lot of places for us to hide. “In here!” Owen whispered as we reached what seemed to be a fully intact gift shop. It was a small wooden shack with a giant open window in the middle of the wall that offered no protection at all, but it was practically the only place for us to hide. We all crawled underneath the window with our backs to the wall. I looked to Zach feeling embarrassed when I saw how he rolled his shoulders to get out some of the tension I had obviously caused. “Sorry,” I apologized quietly, the guilt inside of me growing bigger by the second. He shook his head with a small smile and said: “Don’t worry about it."

“So, what do we do?” Claire asked for the hundredth time that day. None of us offered an answer, and she leant back against the wall once more, defeated. “Maybe…” Gray started, but quickly dismissed his idea with a shake of his head. “What? I’m pretty open to any ideas right now, bud,” Owen coaxed with his eyes fixated on him. “We need more teeth,” Gray sighed. Teeth? I was honestly beyond confused, and with a quick look at the others’ faces, they were, too. A sudden look of realization dawned on Claire’s face, who promptly stood up, albeit shakily on her heels. She immediately reached into a rusty first-aid box that hung on the wall, grabbing two walkies and a distress flare. “Here!” she said before throwing a walkie into Lowery’s lap. “What am I-“ "Just shut up and listen,” she interrupted rudely. “I’ve got an idea. We just have to lure the Indominus here first.” 

Lure the Indominus here? Was she crazy?! I opened my mouth to object, but quickly shut it after taking in the look on her face. “Get it over here,” she ordered, gesturing to Owen. He looked at her weirdly, but it was obvious he had a soft spot for her. So, not very surprisingly, he agreed. Goosebumps involuntarily littered my skin at the thought of being near it again, for the third time that day, and I couldn’t help my quivering muscles. The sound of Owen yelling nearly made me piss my pants, and I clutched my hand over my heart in an attempt to slow down its rhythm. And then I realized what he was doing. Zach and Gray quickly joined in, and I instinctively scooted as far into the corner I was in as possible. What they were doing must have probably looked idiotic to someone looking on from outside, with them leaning through the gap in the wall and screaming their lungs out. And, honestly, my hands itched to grab them by the collars of their shirts and yank them back down to my level, but I knew I had no say in this. And, for some reason, I found myself trusting Claire. My leg didn’t allow me to stand, so I had nothing else to do than sit on the cold floor and wait for the sound of enormous footsteps heading our way. 

Sadly, I didn’t have to wait for long. Claire had taken off a few minutes ago, the clicking of her heels disappeared into the distance. The ground beneath us shook, and I swallowed loudly, painfully aware of the lump that had formed in my throat. As soon as the footsteps could be heard, the boys and men around me sat down again, hiding beneath the windowsill. The all too familiar roar shook the trees around us, and to no avail I squeezed my eyes together tightly. “Lowery?” came the scratchy voice of Claire who sounded out of breath. All of our eyes immediately went to the walkie in his hand, which he clutched tightly. “Yeah?” he practically whispered, only to wince when the footsteps finally came to a standstill a few hundred yards from our position. “What is the password for paddock 9?” Owen’s and Lowery’s eyes went wide, while the rest of us looked at them in confusion. “Paddock 9?” I whispered questioningly at Owen, who sent me a grimace. “Well…” Lowery began apprehensively, only to be interrupted once more. Poor man. “Goddamnit, Lowery. Pull yourself together and be a man for once!” she chastised as a look of hurt crossed his features. “Why does she always have to get personal..?” he mumbled to himself before replying. “The password is ‘havoc’.” Oh, how ironic. 

The screeching sound of a giant metal gate opening resonated throughout the park, and I looked towards Lowery wide-eyed. “What did she just do?” I whispered, although I didn’t really want to know the answer. This time a different, less powerful roar could be heard in the distance. “Jesus,” Owen mumbled, resting his head between his knees. By now my knees were visibly shaking, and I had to force my hands onto them to keep them still, once more gritting my teeth at the pain flaring through my leg. As I looked down at it, I saw giant black and blue bruises decorating the skin, as well as hundreds of small and large gashes that were continually gushing blood. The sight made me queasy, and I had to turn away. I would take a rocking boat over this any day.

It was obvious that everyone wanted to see how close the Indominus actually was, but no one wanted to peek their head above the windowsill, so everyone stayed put. Without saying anything, Zach placed his arm over my shoulders and tugged me into him. By now I didn’t really care about anything other than staying alive, so I had no trouble burying my face in his chest and calming myself to the sound of his heart-beat. His heart was racing just as fast as my own, which oddly enough also offered some comfort - to once again know that I wasn’t alone in this situation, and that I wasn’t the only one being scared. His free hand rubbed my back comfortingly, although I assumed it was also his way of getting rid of some of the nervous energy hoarded in his body. Everyone remained eerily still, and the sound of the Indominus snorting through its nose came incredibly close; much closer than I had feared. I pressed my face harder into his chest until I could see nothing but darkness. Then I felt him lean his head onto my own, his breathing blowing a few strands of my hair into my face. 

Then came the sound of running. Vibrations travelled all the way up my spine as the ground beneath us shook rhythmically. Whatever caused it had to be almost as large as the Indominus. Then came the sound of high heels clicking against the pavement, and Owen immediately started to lean up against the window to see Claire, only to be held back by Lowery, who was shaking his head. Both of the beasts roared simultaneously, the sound way too close for comfort. By now Owen couldn’t take it anymore, and he crawled towards the open door to see what was happening. My curiosity got the best of me, and after gently prying myself out of Zach’s grip, I half-crawled, half-dragged myself over to the door to see for myself. Around fifty yards away from us sat Claire, hiding behind a large piece of amber decoration. And to the right, around a hundred yards away from us, stood two dinosaurs. Realization dawned on my face as I saw what it was she had gotten: she had gotten the T-rex.

My heart pounded painfully, but I still found it in me to be severely impressed by that woman. She had actually gone out, on her own, to fetch the T-rex, only to be chased all the way back here while wearing heels. The flare she had used to gain its attention had been thrown towards the Indominus which was now sizing itself up to take on its opponent. Their roars filled the night as they circled each other, the Indominus having the upper hand in size. But the T-rex looked equally ready to kill. Their jaws snapped at each other as gurgled reptile-noises escaped their throats. Without warning, the Indominus attacked. The T-rex took a hard blow to the side of its head as the longer arms of the Indominus allowed it to scratch deep tears in its skin. Not wanting to see anymore, I crawled back into the shack, reclaiming my former position. Just as the dinosaurs were giving each other their full attention, Claire speedily made her way towards us and hid in the shack as well. The dinosaurs didn’t seem to notice, far too occupied with fighting each other. 

“You’re okay,” Owen sighed in relief as he clutched her in his arms and kissed the crown of her head. I couldn’t help but smile at them. We sat and listened as whatever was left of the remaining buildings was torn apart as the reptiles fell into them. By now Owen had deemed it safe to look out of the window to see what was happening, so we could know if it became necessary to run. The T-rex had taken far more damage than the Indominus from what I could tell, and the slightly elevated atmosphere in the shack dissipated slowly. Whatever hope we had felt before was now all but gone. “If we die,” Claire started, but Owen put his finger over her mouth to silence her. “We’re not dying,” he said stubbornly while looking into her eyes, before doing so to everyone of us. “We can live. We can survive this. If we give whatever it takes, we will not die here.” His tenacity rubbed off on me as I clung to whatever small hope I had left. Lowery peeked his head above the window to look out, and a frown immediately came to his face. By now I really wanted to see what was going on out there, and with a little help (maybe a lot) from Zach and Owen, I stood to see what was happening. The T-rex was lying down in a pool of blood on the ground, desperately moving its small arms as a form of self-defense. The Indominus towered above it, roaring loudly into the sky before getting ready to finish its kill. “Fuck,” I muttered, slowly coming to terms with the fact that we were actually going to die here. 

A tiny, gurgled sound along with scratching footsteps appeared in the small stretch of silence that followed, and I turned my head to its origin. “Blue,” I breathed.


	11. Chapter 11

Every head in the shack turned in the direction of Blue, who was headed directly towards the two quarreling dinosaurs in front of us. It must have heard the fight in the distance and decided to join in. I held my breath as I waited to see whose side it would be on - would it join its new leader, or would it defend us? We all watched in silence as, with a final leap from an oblique piece of cement, the raptor jumped onto the Indominus’ back, sinking its teeth and claws into the marred skin. The Indominus roared loudly while turning its attention away from the T-Rex for a moment - and that was all it took for the wounded dinosaur to weakly climb back onto its feet and snap at its opponent once again. By now the fight had moved further away from us and closer to the giant bassin away from the plaza. Every one held their breath as the Indominus now had two opponents. Owen looked on nervously, obviously still caring a great deal about his last raptor. The others had been taken down either by the military-men or by the Indominus. 

At this point I was certain that my hearing would be damaged for life, as the roars and screeches from the reptiles in front of us cut into our eardrums. No one dared to look at each other, everyone too caught up in the fight. The small raptor kept its balance on the back of the Indominus, all the while biting into its neck or scratching deep wounds into the leathery skin. Every wound distracted the larger dinosaur and allowed the T-Rex to attack ferociously. The occasional sound of flesh being ripped off the bone or blood spraying across the cement made me pale, and had I not been as damned curious as I was, I would have sat down and thrown up all over the place. Clearly mustering up its final amount of strength, the T-Rex managed to throw the Indominus to the ground, making it crash loudly into the metal-fence that separated the bassin from the path, while Blue ran to stand behind the undefeated. “Christ,” Owen whispered as we all heard a sound similar to that of a whale, mixed with the gurgling of extinct reptiles. With a giant roar, and a giant splash, an enormous dinosaur emerged from the water and locked its jaws around the throat of the Indominus, fiercely dragging it with it back into the depths of the water, their mixed roars echoing and fading in the now eerily silent night. 

No one dared move as the T-Rex now stood alone, silently gazing into the dark water where only small ripples danced on the surface as sign of their struggle. Soon it turned around, landing its gaze on Blue who stood alone, nervously scratching its talon against the cement with a tilted head. Once again surprising us all, the T-Rex merely nodded its giant head towards the raptor, and then turned around to walk into the surrounding forest, its footsteps far less intimidating than those of the Indominus, but still terrifying. A frown settled on Owen’s face as Blue turned around and quickly ran in the opposite direction, back where it came from, once again navigating through shards of glass and dodging flames that had erupted during the fight. Lowery was the first to speak. “Are we safe?” Finally no longer willing to bear the pain in my leg, I sat down once more, leaving the others to answer his question. “I think so…” Claire trailed off, looking to Owen for reassurance. “But not for long,” he added. 

I gestured for my brother to come over to my sitting form, and when he did, I hugged the living daylights out of his tense body. “We’re okay,” I whispered into his feathery hair, feeling him clutch me back just as tightly. Looking up I saw Owen ushering everyone out of the shed, and when everyone else had left, he helped me stand on my wobbly feet, one arm held behind my back and the other holding my sweaty hand for comfort. The others had huddled together on the wrecked plaza, their eyes roaming over every torn and burning building. Claire seemed the saddest - from what I had gathered, she was the director of the place, and seeing one’s hard work end up like this must have been like being stabbed in the chest with a dull and rusty knife. When Owen and I reached the others, we just stood there in the middle of the plaza for a few moments. Looking around us, taking in what exactly had just happened, and how incredibly lucky we were to have survived. The stars were still scattered across the dark blue sky, and had there not been chaos around us, I would have found the scenery peaceful. 

The silence was broken by Claire, who shakily held her walkie up to her mouth. “We need a chopper to the plaza. As soon as possible.” A male, scratchy voice responded positively, and she sighed in relief. Slowly, we all sat down on the pavement and waited for our rescue. Nothing more than smalltalk was spoken as the minutes ticked by, and the atmosphere was calm enough for my eyelids to get heavier and heavier. Within minutes, I had repositioned myself so I was lying on the ground and started falling asleep. The pain in my leg had dulled into a noticeable throb, and I could almost ignore it. Moments before I slipped into unconsciousness, I felt someone gingerly lift my head and place it on their lap. ‘Wow, this is comfortable,’ I thought sleepily before finally dozing off.

 

“Keegan,” Zach murmured tiredly. My body was still heavy with sleep, and I couldn’t find the strength to open my eyes, so I settled with a small ‘hmm’. “Come on,” he said while gently shaking my arm. “They’re here.” This peaked my attention, and I somehow pulled strength from deep within me to heave my body off the ground. In front of us was a large black helicopter holding a few men in military uniforms. I momentarily wondered how I managed to stay asleep with the roaring sound of the rotors going on in the background, but I quickly cast the thought aside. The men inside motioned for us to get in, and within a very short amount of time, we were all fastened up inside, all wearing some big headphones that muffled the sound of the helicopter while holding a microphone that allowed us to communicate with each other. Soon the helicopter shakily lifted off the ground, and I quickly clutched the nearest person’s arm in a death-grip. That person turned out to be Owen, who smiled down at me comfortingly. Flying had never been my thing, and even less so in a small, wobbly confinement such as this. 

“How’s your leg?” one of the strangers asked me as he assessed the visible damage. “It hurts,” I answered awkwardly as I didn’t know what to answer. The adrenalin in my body mixed with the sleep I had just had rendered me unable to properly feel what was going on in my body, and to be honest I wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. The man didn’t answer me as he kneeled in front of me and tied some gauze around my shin while I hissed in pain. “This will have to do for now,” he said apologetically while seating himself back in his chair. “But we will get you to a doctor soon enough.” I merely nodded my head. Gray and Iain had fallen asleep, while Claire had her arms placed securely around Zach’s shoulders, obviously dead-set on not letting anything happen to him ever again. Her protectiveness was endearing, although, from what I understood, she didn’t really care that much about them in the first place. I guess that’s what experiences like these do to you. They make you realize what’s important and what’s not. Your priorities are re-established. Although I cared a lot about Iain before, and although I loved my mom before, the feelings I had for them both had suddenly become heightened. I couldn’t wait to come home and have my mother in my arms once more, breathing in her comforting scent. 

The thought of home made a knot form in my throat that made it hard to swallow. I was close to crying, but I refused to let it get to me. I would see my mother again. I would see my dad again, although for the first time in a couple of years. And I would be safe again. There was no need to cry over something good. After mentally scolding myself, I looked up at the ceiling to keep the tears at bay. When I was certain they were not going to spill, I risked a glance in Zach’s direction. Surprisingly, he was already looking at me, a small, content smile playing on his lips. Blushing slightly, I smiled right back at him. I guess it was safe to say that I had developed a crush on him. A rather resilient one at that. “One hour ‘till landing,” the pilot said through the headphones. Since we had an entire hour left, I deemed it safe enough to try to go back to sleep. So I leant my head back against the wall, this time not banging it against the wall twice per second, and I smiled contently. 

Before I knew it, the pilot informed us that we would be landing in two minutes. I sleepily straightened up and looked out of the window curiously. We were at some kind of air-base close to the ocean, and in the distance I could see a few cars parked near the helipad. One of them was definitely our mother’s. Giddiness started spreading through my body at the thought of seeing our mother once again, and Iain was also leaning against the window curiously, almost jumping in his seat out of pure excitement. The helicopter softly touched the asfalt a few times before landing steadily. The doors were opened, and it seemed like everyone was in a rush to get out of there. I unclicked my seatbelt and went to stand up, when a hand was offered to me. Gratefully, I accepted, and looked up into the eyes of, not to my surprise anymore, Zach. He smiled down at me again, sending whirlwinds of butterflies in motion in my stomach, before helping me down the large step that lead to freedom as the salty ocean air washed over us.


End file.
